Sea-oiling projectile



(NoMode1.)' 8 A. H. WALKER.

8 SEA OILING PROJBOTILB. Q

No. 380,370. 8 Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

7 avwwdcw 'UNITED STATES PATENT Orrren.

ALBERT H. WALKER, 'OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

SEA-OILING PROJECTILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,370, dated April 3, 1888.

Application filed January 7, 1888. Serial No. 260,024. (No model.)

following description and claims constitute the specification, and which is illustrated by the accompanying sheet of drawings. Y

This projectile is adapted to contain oil and to be thrown from a ship into the sea and to discharge that oil upward through the water to the surface of the waves, and thus to allay the combers which would otherwise form upon their crests.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a view of a projector clasped in the right hand of a sailor and clasping the projectile between its forward ends. Fig. 2 is a view of the upper part of Fig. 1, showing the projectile partly in section, so as to exhibit the manner in which it is held between the forward ends of the projector. Fig. 3 is an exterior view of the projectile, and Fig. 4 is a central vertical section of the projectile.

The letters A and B indicate the two levers which constitute the principal parts of the projector. These levers are respectively provided at their forward ends with the inwardlyextending prongs C and D, and their rear ends are preferably made in the form of the rear ends of the two members of tailors shears, and they are pivoted together by the bolt E and secured in position by the nut F and a corresponding nut on the other side of the two levers. The strap G is preferably fastened to the bolt E by means of the nut H at one of its ends, so that it may be attached at its other end to the wrist of asailor, as shown in Fig. 1.

The numeral 34 indicates the shell of the projectile, which is preferably cylindrical in form, though it may be made square or-octagonal, or in any other convenient outline, and which is manufactured by inserting the disk 35 in one end of that shell and soldering it to the annular shoulder upon which, in Fig. 4, it is shown to rest, and then by inserting the convex and centrally-perforated disk 36 in the other end of that shell and pressing it up until its truncated apex is in contact with the disk 35, and then soldering the interior border of the disk 36 to the inside of the disk 35 and the exterior border of the disk 36 to the interior of the shell 34, and thereupon in inserting the perforated disk 37 in' the opposite end of the shell 34 until it rests, as shown, upon the adjacent annular shoulder in that end, and then pouring oil through the aperture in the disk 37 until all of the interior of the projectile except the annular air-chamber 38 is filled with oil, and finally in inserting the disk 39 upon the outside of the disk 37 and soldering it firmly in place by a circle of solder extending entirely around its border and entirely around the adjacent inner border of the shell 34.

When the filled projectile of Fig. 3 is to be thrown into the sea, it is impaled between the prongs of the forward ends of the levers A and B, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Then the sailor grasps the rear ends of the levers, as shown in Fig. 1, and swings his arm as if he were about to throw a ball,'and at the instant that his arm reaches its utmost stretch he opens his hand,so as to separate the rear ends of the levers A and B, and also to separate the forward ends of those levers, and thus to extract the prongs C and D from the openings which they made in the disks 35 and 39, respectively. Thus the projectile is hurled into the sea.

During the flight of the projectile through the air the oil is prevented from passing out through the openings in the disks 35 and 39 by reason of the smallness of those openings and the shortness of the time of that flight.

When the projectile reaches the water, it sinks slightly below the surface'and floats in that position,with the air-chamber 38 upward. Thereupon the oil is emitted from the projectile through the opening in the disk 35 and passes upward to the surface of the sea, and is replaced in that projectile by water admitted through the opening in the disk 39. The length of time occupied in the emission and rising of the oil depends upon the size of the opening in the disk 35 as compared with the bulk of the oil to be emitted. A projectil'e of the size shown in Figs. 3 and 4 will hold about two ounces of oil,- and when the opening in the disk 35 is of the size indicated by the prong C, and when the oil is of proper fluidity, the emission will be completed in about five minutes.

Two ounces of oil applied to a raging sea will allay the combers of the waves over two acres of water, as was proven by the experiment made by Captain Smith, of the British bark Wallace, on the Atlantic Ocean,September 21,1886. It follows from this fact that when lying to or when lowering or hoisting boats in a heavy sea the combers can be kept several hundred yards away from a ship by throwing a few of these projectiles into the water around the ship and a hundred yards away from the sides of the same and by repeating the operation from time to time, if required.

The disk 37 or the air-chamber 38, or both of them, may be omitted from the projectile, and its upright buoyancy a little below the surface of the sea be otherwise secured; but whatever means are adopted for that purpose they should be so proportioned to each other and to theweight of the projectile and its contents as to cause the projectile to float with one opening upward and the other opening downward a little below the surface of the water.

The oil inthe projectile may be fish-oil, linseed-oil, oliveoil, or crude petroleum, and still other oil will produce beneficial results; but fish-oil is probably best, except when the projectiles are to be used in cold weather, when fish-oil mixed with mineral oil to give it fluidity is excellent.

I do not herein claim the projector which I describe and show, because I purpose to make another application for Letters Patent of the United States of America thereon.

I claim as my invention- 1. A seaoiling projectile consisting of a shell one end or side of the interior of which is provided with an air-chamber or its equivalent, and the opposite end or side of the inter-ior of which is provided with a weight or its equivalent, and the intermediate part of the interior of which contains oil, substantially as described.

2. A seaoiling projectile consisting of a hermetically-sealed shell. one end or side of the interior of which is provided with an airchamber or its equivalent, and the opposite end or side of the interior of which is provided with a weight or its equivalent, and theintermediatepart of theinterior of which contains oil, the two opposite sides or ends of which, that are provided with the air-chamber and the weight, respectively, being also provided with sections of walls easily punctured to make openings for the egress of oil and the ingress of water, respectively, all substantially as described.

Hartford, Connecticut, January 6,1888.

ALBERT H. WALKER.

Witnesses:

HENRY L. REOKARD, O. E. BUOKLANDl 

